The snow fell outside, signaling people winter had arrived. This was that one season of the world more than half of the world seemed to hate over the cold since other than that, it only brought people closer, the excuse being the so called Christmas day. Hanbin stared at the table where a couple sat. He was mad that they were still there when he had already asked them to leave so they could close down - he didn’t want to kick them out as that’d be straight out of the polite card he could pull off.

‘’Are you going home after closing down?’’ a cheerful voice asked, looking over at Hanbin who sighed heavily; she was a problem to him, a burden since she was just so annoying to him. She was always following him around, getting him on his nerves to the point he always had to take the longer way home to make her give up on going with him or even ask his friends to come pick him up so she could leave him alone.

Naturally, after all of this, he turned to her wearing a cynical smile that gave away the fact he was about to lie ‘’Not really, today, I’m going out with my friends until late.’’ the female looked down as she only found her questions a matter of being worried about him. She liked him but she only followed him around to make sure he was alright. He hardly ever opened up to her. She wanted to be friends with him above everything but he didn’t even want to get over the coworker status they shared.

Hearing his answer, she nodded her head slowly and held her hands together, looking down - this was a sign, she had to let go of him. He already understood she liked him and he didn’t have the same feelings for her so she shouldn’t waste another second of her life trying to get to him. No, it’d be bad for her. Bad for her head and for her heart. It would be just something she couldn’t get herself over if she tried to dig deeper.

His eyes watched the female walk away, making him wonder why she gave up so easily when she usually stuck by him like glue. The two customers that were bothering him so much had left after she talked to them. It was like she was nicer than he was. What was wrong with her? He shrugged his shoulders quietly as if he didn’t really care for the situation.

Instead of her cleaning what he already cleaned, the female actually did some tidying up on the place. While he was on the counter, she was working over at the tables, making sure everything was actually clean. She was acting weirdly, what was wrong with her? Shrugging, he dropped his thoughts over this, he felt relieved she actually gave up on following him around.

Several days have passed since she stopped bothering him and he seemed happy about it. Not only because she stopped but also because it gave him the opportunity to have someone in his life, he had been trying to convince the girl he liked to be his girlfriend but she kept refusing as this coworker of his kept getting in the way.

The female frowned every time Hanbin’s girlfriend dropped by, either at lunch hour or simply to pick him up. Sometimes even to drop him off. But he seemed happy and that was enough for her. He was happy with someone else and if she only bothered him, she could understand that maybe that was the best thing for both of them. She had to move on with her life as well. Maybe getting a boyfriend would be the best option.

However things got hard. Apart from working there on the weekends, he was still and idol. That was maybe the reason why he was just so mad at her for following him around, even if he had his fans around him half the time. Maybe that job was for him to get things off his back. He was so successful that she felt more and more distant yet, it was impossible for her to forget about him. It wasn’t even his looks that she was after, it was the way he cared for people but she never really got him to care for her like that.

Just another week got to an end, telling her those two days of the weekend were exactly what she should be afraid of, the most. She feared them because that was when Hanbin usually came to work at his family’s coffee shop.

A pair of arms wrapped around her, calming her down as she knew who it was. ‘’It’s going to be alright, baby.’’ he told her, pecking her head as he knew about the story she shared with Hanbin, even if they were nowhere near lovers, she was hurt over it. They got back to work as the female was calmer now. However, every time the door opened, her eyes turned to see just who was there and the second Hanbin walked in, she kind of panicked.

He ignored her, as usual but something was different by the end of the day. ‘’Baby, are you ready to go home?’’ Hanbin lift his head as he was the one who usually heard that phrase; this time, however, the voice was just not alike his girlfriend’s. It was a male voice, a voice that he knew. His eyes almost popped out of his face the second he noticed it was one of his coworkers, talking to the girl who just a few days ago was all over him.

He scoffed and rolled his eyes, shaking his head - he disapproved this but he wasn’t quite sure why since at least, she wasn’t running after him anymore. He just tried to ignore them but the next day, Sunday, when he came to work, there they were again. But they weren’t just working, according to them, their shift hadn’t started yet. That only meant he was early for his shift as well. ‘’I can’t believe this..’’ he mumbled under his breath, shaking his head slowly.

Before they could notice, Christmas was already around the corner. Literally. This year, Christmas was celebrated on the weekend, which meant he had to work, at least, in the morning. He sighed at the thought of that. At least, he got the afternoon to spend with his family.

It was now Christmas Eve, Hanbin was standing by the counter, watching couples and more couples walking in and out while the snow outside. Things between him and his girlfriend weren’t going well as they seemed to be distant, not understanding why. She blamed him for his work and she said something else was on their way.

‘’Baby, do you want me to stop by tomorrow? I don’t want you to spend Christmas alone…’’ the female smiled a bit and shook her head ‘’Your grandmother needs you with her, don’t worry…’’ she sighed quietly. They also seemed distant and there was just no point in trying to fix that. This getaway for Christmas was a last minute escape he managed to get. He needed some time away from her as there were those kind of relationships that weren’t meant to be. They were fun over the first few weeks but things would start getting boring, maybe even repetitive and that there was just no use in trying to keep things together. He followed her around but all the words he spoke were empty. ‘’Do you want me to take you home, at least?’’

‘’How can you do that if you’re travelling, idiot? You’re already late, just go.’’ she answered him without looking at him. She ran to get the orders and right there, Hanbin found their relationship was collapsing.

Just like that, he left and before she could tell, it was time to close down. She wasn’t in the mood to talk, therefore, she just kept quiet, doing her work. Once she was done with her shift, she tiredly tidied up her stuff so she could leave. Taking a peek outside made her sigh quietly ‘’Great, snow.’’ she mumbled under her breathe as she knew she’d freeze outside even if she was wearing the thickest coat she could.

‘’I’ll take you home.’’ a voice called out; she even thought it was her boyfriend but he had left earlier so it couldn’t be him. She was surprised to turn around and face Hanbin. Smiling slightly, she answered him ‘’It’s fine, I’ll just wait a bit.’’ she said, noticing that there was a person she knew on the outside, standing in the snow. Hanbin was about to insist but she pointed to the outside ‘’Your girlfriend is outside, you should take her home instead.’’ now it was her who was avoiding him and he didn’t seem to like it. He actually liked the attention she gave him before. He felt special but now, things changed a lot and he didn’t like it the slightest

‘’No wait...don’t go.’’ he asked her but she already exited the shop. He sighed, following her out just to be stopped by his girlfriend who wanted to talk to him. He didn’t want to talk to her though, he realized what she meant when she said that something was getting in between them ‘’You’re right, something is indeed in the way and I guess it is you.’’ he told his girlfriend who stood there, speechless as he left.

He ran after the girl who left the coffee shop, ignoring him. ‘’Wait up!’’ he shouted, leaving the heavy footprints behind as he hit the floor with his feet quite harshly over how quick he was running to get to the female. She stopped, sighing quietly as she knew he wouldn’t let go of her if she didn’t decide to talk to him. ‘’What is it, Hanbin?’’ she asked him, turning around quietly - she’d let him speak as she was at least nice.

‘’We need to talk.’’ the way he spoke those words made the female frown quietly. It felt like the matter was more serious now that he said those four words. ‘’I’ll take you home and we’ll talk, please.’’ she ended up agreeing to it as she knew he couldn’t be caught outside, if he did, it’d be bad for him.

As they arrived, Hanbin stopped, gathering courage to say what he needed to say ‘’I love you.’’ he told her, watching her stop by the door - she was planning on walking inside so they could talk about whatever he wanted to talk but now that he just gave away what he wanted to say, she was surprised. ‘’...what did you say?’’ she asked, turning around to face him. She was just shocked.

‘’I said...I love you’’ he told her, frowning at how her face didn’t seem happy for the news he gave her. Instead, her eyes released some tears, getting him to frown as he tried to understand what was going on. Worried, he walked up to her, wiping the tears away from her eyes. She held his hands so he’d stop, surprising him who decided to ask her what was wrong. ‘’Did I really have to get over you so you could come to me?’’ she frowned, crying quietly as her grip tightened on his hands.

‘’I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you but I can’t stand seeing other guy making you happy...I want to be that guy.’’ he confessed, searching for her eyes that looked right into his to see if he was honest when he said those words - his words weren’t empty like the guy who ran away for Christmas and for some reason, she was feeling sensitive, surprising him with yet another set of tears she cried quietly. Seeing this, he pulled her to his chest, sighing quietly ‘’I won’t make you suffer anymore, I promise.’’